A daughter of William Backhouse Astor Jr. and Caroline Webster Schermerhorn, and great-granddaughter of John Jacob Astor, her father strongly objected to her relationship with James J. Van Alen. Undeterred, she eloped with him in 1876. They had three children, Mary, James and Sarah, during their five year marriage. Though buried in Trinity Cemetery, a cenotaph in her honor was erected in the Van Alen family plot at Berkeley Chapel Churchyard in Middletown, Rhode Island.
A daughter of William Backhouse Astor Jr. and Caroline Webster Schermerhorn, and great-granddaughter of John Jacob Astor, her father strongly objected to her relationship with James J. Van Alen. Undeterred, she eloped with him in 1876. They had three children, Mary, James and Sarah, during their five year marriage. Though buried in Trinity Cemetery, a cenotaph in her honor was erected in the Van Alen family plot at Berkeley Chapel Churchyard in Middletown, Rhode Island.
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